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LIVING AND DYING UNTO THE LORD. 



LIVING AND DYING UNTO THE LOKD. 



A DISCOURSE 

IN COMMEMORATION OF 

THE LIFE SERVICES AND DEATH 

OF 

ELDER BILLMTON M. SANDERS; 

DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

GEORGIA BAPTIST CONVENTION, 

AT, JKA&HINGTON, WILKES CO. 

< m * ***** in , 

ON LORD'S #lt% ^PRIL 23, 1854. 

*•► BY 

CD, malR^y. 

PUBLISHED. BY REQUEST OF THE CONVENTION. 

CHARLESTON: l 

SOUTHERN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 
1854. 



<#> 



,0[D 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1854, by the 

SOUTHERN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY, 

In the Clerk' s Office of the District Court of the United States for the 

District of South Carolina. 



{off co»oa««*i 



CHARLESTON: 
STEiJW-POWER PRINTING OFFICE, 

No. 3 Broad Street. 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



When this Discourse was delivered before the 
Convention, it was found necessary, for the want of 
time, to omit considerable portions of it ; but in ar- 
ranging it for the press, the Author, for the sake of 
symmetry, and the necessary fulness of illustration, 
has thought best to retain the substance of what he 
originally prepared. Some additional matter also has 
been introduced into the latter part of the Discourse, 
and some changes have been made in the arrangement 
of a few pages. 



v 



DISCOURSE. 



Brethren and friends — I stand before you 
on a melancholy occasion. The beloved San- 
ders is no more. I have been requested to 
present some tribute to his memory. Had 
the task been cast on other hands, I should 
have been truly gratified ; but animated by 
the example of that faithful man, who shrunk 
from no duty which he could possibly per- 
form, I have consented to make an humble at- 
tempt. As introductory to a review of his 
life and character, I propose to make some 
remarks from the eighth verse of the four- 
teenth chapter of Romans. 



LIVING AND DYING 



66 For whether we live, we live unto the 
Lord ; and whether we die, we die unto the 
Lord ; whether we live therefore, or die, 
we are the Lord's." 

These words distinctly recognize the great 
fundamental truth, thai the saints of God are 
the property of the Lord Jesus Christ, 

We shall consider — 

I. In what sense they belong to Christ. 

II. The nature of that acknowledgment 
which is due to this important truth ; AND 

III. The reasons which should constrain us 
to this acknowledgment. 



UNTO THE LORD. 9 



I. In what sense do the saints belong to the 
Lord Jesus Christ ? 

1. They are his by the gift of the Father. 
According to the covenant of redemption, 
Christ must bear the griefs and sorrows of 
men ; the chastisement of our peace must 
rest upon him ; he must be stricken for the 
transgression of his people ; he must make 
his soul an offering for sin. But shall he 
bleed, and agonize, and die in vain ? No ; 
the covenant that demands his atoning ago- 
nies, appoints his glorious recompense. He 
shall see of the travail of his soul, and be sa- 
tisfied ; he shall have a spiritual seed to serve 
and honor him ; an innumerable company of 
redeemed ones, who shall be his peculiar heri- 
tage. The Father, the Sovereign of all 
worlds, and the rightful disposer of the desti- 
nies of men, makes the sacred grant ; Christ 



10 LIVING AND DYING 



claims his people as his Father's gift. " And 
this is the Father's will which hath sent me, 
that of all which he hath given me, I should 
lose nothing, but should raise it up again at 
the last day." Speaking of the redeemed 
saints as a flock, he says, my sheep ; and 
whilst proclaiming their everlasting security, 
he at the same time vindicates his proprie- 
torship in them on the ground we are now 
considering : " My Father which gave them 
me is greater than all, and no man is able to 
pluck them out of my Father's hand." It is 
the prerogative of Christ to bestow eternal 
life ; but who become the actual possessors 
of this unspeakable bounty? Those whom 
he claims as his, by the gift of the Father. 
" As thou hast given him power over all 
flesh," (thus speaks the Son of God,) "that he 
should give eternal life to as many as thou 
hast given him." And in disposing of the 






UNTO THE LORD. 11 



eternal destinies of his people in that memo- 
rable prayer which preceded the bloody 
sweat of Gethsemane, and the agonies of the 
cross, he again recognizes the rights which 
he holds in his redeemed people by virtue of 
the Father's gift. " Father, I will that they 
also, whom thou hast given me, be with me 
where I am, that they may behold my glory 
which thou hast given me ; for thou lovedst 
me before the foundation of the world." 

2. The saints belong to the Redeemer by vir- 
tue of a full and rightful purchase. They 
were given to Christ, they were bought by 
Christ ; bought for himself, and not another, 
and bought by a price that transcends in 
value all finite computation. Truth, justice, 
holiness, the righteous government of God, 
had set a high estimate upon the sinner's de- 
liverance. If he ever becomes Christ's to 
save, to govern, to dispose of mercifully and 



12 LIVING AND DYING 

graciously to his own glory, it must be by 
virtue of a vast consideration — a considera- 
tion that shall guarantee forever, in the view 
of created intelligences, and in the conscious- 
ness of the divine mind, full protection and 
honor to all the perfections of Jehovah. If 
the soul rises up from its ruin to be Christ's 
possession, the pillars of God's holy throne 
must nevertheless stand. To hold them erect 
amidst the strange work of procuring deli- 
verance for the guilty, required the support 
of almighty hands, the bulwark of an infi- 
nite propitiation. Christ cast his own man- 
gled heart at the base of those pillars, and 
with his own almighty hands, pierced and 
bloody, he grasped their summits. They 
stood. The price was paid. He gave him- 
self — his body to be slain, his soul to be tor- 
tured beneath the curse that was due to 
transgression, his divinity to crown the offer- 



UNTO THE LORD. 13 



ing with ample, prevailing power. " Ye were 
not redeemed.*' my brethren, " with corrupti- 
ble things as silver and gold — but with the 
precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without 
blemish, and without spot." As the absolute 
God, Christ, by his creating hand, wrote a 
strong, irrevocable claim upon his people, as 
well as upon all other beings in the universe ; 
through this claim, by itself, however, as they 
have sinned, he could only hold them as cul- 
prits, bound over to the day of execution ; 
but as Mediator, he dipped that almighty 
hand in his own blood, and wrote upon them, 
even when dead in trespasses and sins, a 
new, a memorable, a peculiarly endearing 
claim, by which he can possess them as sub- 
jects of his gracious authority, and make 
them the heirs of everlasting honors. They 
are not their own ; they are bought with a 
price. This price the Father has accepted 
2 



14 LIVING AND DYING 

as fully adequate to the demands of his viola- 
ted law; the holy Spirit concurs in the di- 
vine transaction ; and to afford demonstration 
of the Redeemer's full and unalienable rights 
in his people, and that he may vindicate these 
rights, and accomplish for them, and in them, 
and by them, the purposes of his own glory, 
he has received " power over all flesh ;" is 
constituted " Lord both of the dead and liv- 
ing ;'• nay, he hath been exalted " far above 
all principality and power, and might and 
dominion, and every name that is named, not 
only in this world, but also in that which is 
to come." God the Father hath given him 
" to be head over all things to the church." 

They are the property of the Lord by a 
claim as strong as the will and purpose of 
the everlasting Father can make it ; as strong 
as the %t blood of Christ, who, through the 
eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot 



UNTO THE LORD. 15 

to God," can make it. They are his righte- 
ously, fully, absolutely and unchangeably. 
They are his to guide, to govern, to judge, to 
chastise, to comfort, to dispose of, in time and 
in eternity. He claims absolute jurisdiction 
over their secret thoughts and motives ; over 
their wills, their understandings, their con- 
sciences and affections. He wields the scep- 
tre of his right over their bodily appetites, 
senses and members. Their time he claims 
as his ; their talents, their opportunities, their 
enjoyments, their possessions. They are his 
in all their private, social and public rela- 
tions. They are his in their eating and their 
drinking, their down-sitting and up-rising, 
their plans and their changes, by the fireside 
and by the wayside, in the field, in the mark- 
et place, and in the sanctuary. They are his, 
in defiance of all the claims set up by a pre- 
sumptuous and tempting world ; by the ar- 



16 LIVING AND DYING 

rogant and grasping adversary of God and 
man. They are his in defiance of the au- 
thority of unscriptural, tyrannic creeds, and 
the hoary traditions of men. They are his, in 
spite of all the selfish and rebellious dictates 
of their own unsanctified natures. He will 
not debate his claims with worms of the dust 
— with the creatures of a day; they were 
settled by Jehovah in the councils of eter- 
nity. He will not soften down, and compro- 
mit his rights ; they are too sacredly and 
securely sealed up by the blood of the ever- 
lasting covenant. 

Not only does the sovereign jurisdiction of 
Christ sweep over the whole circuit of their 
lives, but he claims proprietorship in their 
death. He appoints it ; he presides over it ; it 
is precious in his sight. The body he com- 
mands to sleep in earth or ocean, at his will, 
and in the arms of corruption to await obe- 



UNTO THE LORD. 17 



diently his summons at the resurrection day. 
The spirit he calls away to his blessed bosom 
in youth, or manhood, or old age, by length- 
ened or shortened struggles, by gentle or tor- 
turing pangs, as seemeth good in his holy 
sight. "For whether we live, we live unto 
the Lord ; and whether we die, we die unto 
the Lord ; whether we live therefore, or die, 
we are the Lord's." 

II. We are now to consider the nature of 
that acknowledgment which is due to this fun- 
damental truth. Our text is a practical em- 
bodiment of the truth that we are the Lord's, 
and through this aspect unfolds to us the ac- 
knowledgment which Christ demands. It de- 
lineates the desires, purposes and aims of 
God's people, when they properly feel their 
relation to him as their rightful Proprietor. 
The doctrine that they are the Lord's, is not 
2* 



18 LIVING AND DYING 



to be held by them as a matter of abstract, 
Antinomian, self-complacent speculation ; but 
it must engage their deepest interest, and stir 
into correspondent and consistent action the 
energies of the soul. Christ's redeemed peo- 
ple must live unto the Lord, they must die 
unto the Lord. As they are his by the sover- 
eign gift of the Father, and by the purchase 
of the blood of his Son, they must be the 
Lord's by a cheerful, hearty acknowledgment 
of his rights, and an unreserved submission 
to his authority. In all things they are to 
have a supreme regard to his will, seek his 
approbation, acknowledge their accountabi- 
lity to him, acquiesce in his sovereign ap- 
pointments, and keep in view his divine glo- 
ry, as the great end of their creation and re- 
demption. 

As Christ claims dominion over their 
thoughts and affections, they are to strive to 



UNTO THE LORD. 19 

bring every thought, passion and desire into 
captivity to the obedience of Christ. As he 
asserts his rights over the intellect, it is to be 
trained and exercised in all its faculties, in a 
manner conformable to the good pleasure of 
the Lord. As the body is a portion of his re- 
deemed heritage, its corruptions must be 
mortified, and its members disciplined to the 
toils of righteousness. All the secular ar- 
rangements of life must be prosecuted by 
such rules as the Saviour dictates, and for 
such ends as will bring honor to his name. 
Our gettings must be held subject to the 
drafts of the Great Proprietor, tributary in 
all needful measures to the interests of his 
kingdom. Pride, and covetousness, and am- 
bition, and carnal ease, must be crucified. 
• When our cherished comforts are wrested 
from our grasp, we must bow submissively 
to the feet of our chastising friend, and say : 



20 LIVING AND DYING 

" It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him 
good." When he summons us forth, by pro- 
vidential indications, to some severe and self- 
denying service, the redeemed have but one 
answer to give: si We are thine, O blessed 
Lord ; speak, for thy servants hear." The 
obligation recognized in the text requires all 
the people of God to hold themselves respon- 
sible to Christ for their religious opinions and 
practices. Christ is our great Theological 
Teacher : he speaks with an authority from 
which there is no appeal. His doctrine, as 
presented in the lively Oracles, is to be re- 
ceived into our hearts; his institutions and 
ordinances are to be embraced as he himself 
delivered them to the saints. He that through 
fear, or shame, or ambition, or worldly poli- 
cy, would add to the teaching of Christ, or 
take from it, fearfully encroaches upon his 
rights, and thus far tramples in the dust the 



UNTO THE LORD. 21 



sacred principle that we are the Lord's. If I 
could assuredly know that God, in some mys- 
terious way, would overrule the vindication 
of an error to the salvation of my wife, or 
my father,. I should not hold myself at li- 
berty, as the servant of Christ, to proclaim 
that error. 

Our benevolent enterprises must be con- 
ducted with a sacred regard to the will of 
Christ. We are not to undertake the sup- 
pression of vice, the building up of churches, 
the endowment of seminaries of learning, the 
circulation of the Bible, the evangelizing of 
the nation, but upon principles that conform 
themselves to the good pleasure of Zion's 
King. All the maxims of men that make 
void the maxims of Christ, are to be es- 
chewed ; all those amusements and indul- 
gences, that are inconsistent with the exam- 
ple ^nd teachings of the Saviour, are to be 



22 LIVING AND DYING 

cast aside as things mischievous and hateful. 
In fine, upon the whole round of life, as em- 
bracing the principles that govern us, the 
sentiments and feelings which we entertain, 
the providences that beset us, the endow- 
ments which pertain to us, and all the diver- 
sified plans and avocations that we pursue, 
are we to write down, with our hearts' full 
consent, and in indelible characters, "we are 
the Lord's ;" since Christ, in the exercise of 
his sovereign and unchangeable right, has 
written upon us, with reference to all these 
things, "ye are mine own" 

As we are to live unto Christ, so we must 
die unto him. We have said that Christ has 
a supreme proprietorship in our death. So 
far as our sentiments and conduct have any 
relation to our death, they are still to be re- 
gulated by the will of Christ ; they must af- 
ford a practical illustration of the principle 



UNTO THE LORD. 23 



that we are the Lord's. We must make that 
preparation for death' which he requires. 
Our temporal arrangements, as far as possi- 
ble, must be so adjusted as not to encumber 
that solemn hour to the dishonoring of Christ. 
We are not to hurry on to death by sinful 
neglects, reckless exposures, superstitious au- 
sterities, or deliberate violence ; nor are we 
to shrink from death in any form, when it 
comes at the bidding of duty. We are to de- 
sire, that all the circumstances as to time, 
place, disease, sufferings, may be so ordered, 
as will best answer the sovereign purposes 
of .Christ. We are not to be in impatient 
haste to be gone, nor to give up our grasp of 
time reluctantly when the summon comes; 
nor to revolt at the particular stroke, how- 
ever severe, which separates the soul from its 
clayey tenement. In surrendering up the 
body, it must be with a cheerful acquiescence 



24 LIVING AND DYING 

in its temporary dishonor as the victim of 
corruption and worms, and still with a re- 
joicing hope of its final glorious renovation 
at the command, and for the service and hon- 
or of Christ. In giving up the soul, it must 
be done, not with the expectation and desire 
that it may find release from its allegiance 
to its rightful Lord, but that it may rise to 
sweeter, higher, purer communion with him, 
and find its consummated honor and bliss in 
its perfect and everlasting subjection to his 
holy, sovereign will. Such is the submissive, 
cordial, widespread and abiding acknow- 
ledgment, which Christ requires at the hands 
of all his people. 

III. We now proceed to offer a few Rea- 
sons which should constrain us to this ac- 
knowledgment. 

1. The first I offer is written upon the bloody 



UNTO THE LORD. 25 

cross. The love of Christ, as manifested in 
his dying agonies, should constrain. Whilst 
this love illustrates and seals Christ's highest 
claim upon us, and is the broadest measure 
of our obligation which the universe sup- 
plies, it is, at the same time, the most en- 
gaging motive that heaven presents to draw 
the heart, and with it all our powers, into a 
sweet, submissive and reverential acknow- 
ledgment that we are the Lord's. Does not 
our profession say that there is no other 
place where we~ can live, where we dare 
live, where we would live, save beneath 
the very droppings — the bloody droppings 
of the cross? There the ransomed live, 
and can they there be vain, and selfish, and 
worldly-minded, and rebellious? Can we 
there, my brethren, in our cold, isolated, hea- 
ven-provoking selfishness, rear our little car- 
nal ware-houses, and store away our goods 
3 



26 LIVING AND DYING 

and our chattels, our comforts and our plea- 
sures, our ambitions and our honors, our ap- 
petites and our affections, our intellects and 
our consciences, and set up for our super- 
scription, right over against the superscrip- 
tion of the cross, we are our own ? If Christ 
has borne our accursed sins in his own body 
upon the tree, surely it is not too much for us 
to bear his precious cross, and to follow, at all 
risks, his blessed footsteps. If Jesus has- 
tened from his Father's bosom, and from the 
splendors of his throne, and gave himself up 
for us in shame, and tears, and blood ; surely 
it is not too much for us to give ourselves up 
to him in unfaltering love, in stern, fixed 
and uncompromising obedience. 

2. A regard to our own highest joy should 
constrain us. A full, practical acknowledg- 
ment of the doctrine, that we are Christ's, 



UNTO THE LORD. 27 

brings to the bosom the sweetest satisfaction. 
Conflict with the divine will has been the 
source of all the misery that ever existed, or 
ever will exist, in the universe. A want of 
due subordination to Christ, on the part of 
his people, brings them in conflict with the 
will of God, of course is highly offensive to 
the divine mind, grieves the holy Spirit, and 
cuts short their heavenly consolations. One 
reason why we have so little religious enjoy- 
ment, is that we feel so imperfectly the vital 
power of the precious doctrine, that we be- 
long to Christ. If we are proud, and vain, 
and covetous, can we be happy in such a 
Christless frame 1 If we cannot submit to 
the sacrifices which our Lord demands, what 
heavenly fruits can grow upon the thorns of 
such rebellion ? If we seek comfort in crea- 
ture delights, and thus bring the capacious 
vessels of our desires and hopes to forbidden, 



28 LIVING AND DYING 

diminutive cisterns, and they broken and 
without water, what solid joy can we look 
for ? When the sentiment that we are Christ's 
pervades the bosom as a vital controling 
principle, then is the bosom pervaded with 
sweet and permanent delight. Lost in the 
will of Christ, what can disturb our peace ? 
When we lose our life of self-pleasing, we 
gain a life of spiritual joy ; forsaking all 
for Christ, we gain oftentimes in this world, 
and amidst the severest bereavements, a hun- 
dred fold in the consoling and abiding peace 
which the Spirit brings to our hearts. The 
redeemed in heaven are supremely joyful, 
because supremely absorbed in the will of 
Christ. As far as we are like heaven in our 
submission, are we like heaven in our bliss. 
Yielding up to the Saviour that full and 
abiding acquiescence which the text por- 
trays, the complacency of God rests upon us, 



UNTO THE LORD. 29 



and in this there is joy. " His favor is life, 
and his loving-kindness is better than life.' 5 
In this cordial submission to Christ, the Spi- 
rit bears witness with our spirits that we are 
the children of God, and in this the soul is 
comforted. This hearty yielding up to Christ is 
attended with the consciousness that we yield 
up to that wisdom which cannot err, to that 
faithfulness which cannot fail, to that power 
which cannot become weary, to that love 
which is tender, strong and everlasting; and 
here is joy. Yielding to the Lord, we feel 
that the love of Christ towards us is the mo- 
tive which constrains, the love of Christ 
within us the principle which controls ; and 
such a consciousness cannot but cheer the 
soul. And O how sweetly do the promises 
of heaven sound to him who is thus swal- 
lowed up in Christ ; how tenderly are they 
fulfilled in his consolation. " To obey is bet- 
3* 



30 LIVING AND DYING 

ter than sacrifice, and to hearken than the 
fat of rams." He feels that it is so. " If ye 
be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good 
of the land." He feels that it is so. " He 
that hath my commandments and keepeth 
them, he it is that loveth me ; and he that 
loveth me shall be loved of my Father ; and 
I will love him and manifest myself to him," 
He finds all this to be so. Hearing the voice 
of the Saviour, and opening wide the heart 
to receive him in his doctrine, his precepts, 
his kingly authority, Christ comes, according 
to his gracious pledge, with the entertain- 
ments of his grace, and the soul and the Sa- 
viour feast together. " I have been perfectly 
happy," says Payson, (such is the sentiment, 
if not his precise language,) " since I lost 
my will." It is this absorption in the will of 
Christ that mitigates the sorrows of life, and 
sweetens the pangs of the dying hour. It was 



UNTO THE LORD. 31 

this which enabled Paul so calmly to say, in 
prospect of afflictions and bonds, " none of 
these things move me." It is this which makes 
the missionary of the cross so cheerful and 
happy when he leaves his native shores, and 
hastens away to labor and to die in heathen 
lands. It was this whi$h enabled Paul and 
Silas to fill the prison at Philippi with their 
joyful praises ; and this that cheered the bo- 
som of Judson in the gloomy prison of Oung- 
pen-la. 

3. This hearty, profound, practical acqui- 
escence in the doctrine that we are the Lord's, 
gives beauty to Christian example, and strength 
to our efforts for the advancement of the Re- 
deemer's kingdom. This mighty motive should 
constrain us. In this obedient acknowledg- 
ment of our true relation to Christ, we fully 
put on Christ, we are fully in Clfrist ; and in 



32 LIVING AND DYING 

him we shine, and in him we are strong. 
The beauty of the LoVd is now upon us, and 
he establishes the work of our hands upon 
us. As we sink into his will, we rise up in 
spiritual might to fulfil the great ends of our 
redemption. No arrow can fatally pierce 
us, no stratagem can confound us. Hearing 
and doing the sayings of Christ, we build 
our house upon a rock, fairly, strongly ; no 
jutting beams nor quivering corners press 
out upon the treacherous quicksand, or over- 
hang the desolating torrent. We live to 
purpose ; we work to purpose ; for Christ 
lives in us, and Christ works by us. We are 
now fully his by the use he makes of us, as 
we are fully his by the right which he has in 
us. As we pluck out, at his bidding, the 
right eye that ofFendeth, and cut off the right 
arm that causeth to err, the eyes of holy dis- 
cernment are brightened, and the arm of 



UNTO THE LORD. 33 

faith wakes to new and mighty achievements. 
This absorption of all our powers in the w T ill 
of Christ, is the great sanctifying element of 
our sacrifices and toils. It brings them within 
the scope of the divine promises, which are 
yea and amen in Christ Jesus, not out of him ; 
and this gives them strength : it secures for 
them the divine complacency, and clothes 
them with spiritual energy. We move on, 
humbly and prayerfully, in harmony with our 
profession and our vows ; this brings from 
conscience its sweet and cheering approval, 
and in this there is strength. Earth is made 
to occupy its proper place in our hopes and 
labors ; Zion's welfare is supremely dear to 
us, because dear to our blessed Lord ; souls 
engage our deep anxieties, and our affections 
are placed on things above, where Christ sit- 
teth at the right hand of God. In all this our 
example is bright and strong with the re- 



34 LIVING AND DYING 

fleeted image of the Lamb. The little duties 
of life — our eating and our drinking, our sow- 
ing and our reaping, our buying and our sell- 
ing — subordinated to the holy principles of 
faith and love, as well as our more direct 
and conspicuous labors for Zion's good, all 
send over their heavenly perfumes, and vin- 
dicate the cause of Christ with persuasive, 
effectual power. This holy, humble, affec- 
tionate acknowledgment of Christ, throws 
beauty and strength around the dying bed. 
There it comforts the weeping mourner; 
there it often strikes down the unbelieving to 
penitence and prayer. It consecrates the 
sepulchres of the righteous, and makes them 
the citadels of moral beauty and strength, 
sometimes for all coming generations. It in- 
fuses into the blood of the martyrs undying 
virtue, making it in all ages, and in all lands, 
the seed of the church. 



UNTO THE LORD. 35 



This entire submission to the will of Christ 
not only gives beauty and strength to the 
life and death of the saints in their indi- 
vidual character, but clothes the redeemed 
with spiritual might in their combined and 
associated relations. Now the individual 
elements of beauty and power are wrought 
into aggregate structures that are glorious to 
behold. Ravished by the love of truth, be- 
cause absorbed in the love of Christ, his 
ransomed people search after truth as for 
hid treasures ; seeking after it thus, they find 
it, finding it they obey it ; and thus do they 
become established in that unity of scriptural 
faith and holy obedience, which renders God's 
Jerusalem fair as the moon, clear as the sun, 
and terrible as an army with banners. The 
world now believes, in answer to the inter- 
cession of our Lord, that Jesus of Nazareth 
is the Saviour of the world, that Christianity 



36 LIVING AND DYING 

is the religion of heaven. The resources of 
Zion are all at the feet of Christ. Is money 
needed, for the cause of the Redeemer ? It 
is forthcoming, for the saints have written 
upon it, this is the Lord's. The gifts of the 
churches are at the feet of Christ. Our young 
recruits do not come into the churches smo- 
thered down, wilted, scalded, dwarfed with 
the selfish inquiries, " how can we live in 
ease ? how can we make money ? how can we 
get forward to some little worldly distinc- 
tion?" Bat they are fired with the nobler ques- 
tion, " how can we honorably live, and toil, 
and suffer, and die for thee, O blessed Lord, 
who hast bought us with thy blood ?" Is a 
brother needed for some weighty and respon- 
sible charge in our midst ? He comes forth, 
and in the spirit of his Master bares his neck, 
his heart, to the burden. Are Sabbath-school 
teachers needed ? Behold they come, ready 



UNTO THE LORD. 37 

for the task, and burning with love for souls. 
Are missionaries needed for China's peopled 
realm, and Afric's burning clime, and the 
distant and destitute regions of this Ameri- 
can land ? From a thousand lips I hear the 
response : " We are the Lord's ; we come, we 
come ; send us forth if you deem us worthy." 
Behold the beauty and strength of Zion, thus 
harnessed to the will of her crucified Lord ! 
What enemy can now prevail ? What en- 
terprise is too arduous ? What emergency 
cannot be provided for ? What heathen na- 
tion cannot be invaded and subdued ? If Zion 
is weak, it is because she is selfish ; it is be- 
cause she lives so little £or the glory of 
Christ, and so much for her own pleasure. 
Pride, a love of ease, a fondness for worldly 
display, a selfish competition with the cove- 
tous and the aspiring, and adherence to un- 
scriptural dogmas, through fear, or fash- 
4 



38 LIVING AND DYING 

ion, or interest, or indolent, one-sided inves- 
tigation — these, O Zion, are thy weakness 
and thy bane ! Whatever hastens the eman- 
cipation of the churches from these incum- 
brances, and guides them on to a full, hearty 
and practical acknowledgment of the truth 
that they are the Lord's, plants them in a po- 
sition of impregnable strength — a position 
where all their energies, uncorroded, undi- 
vided, uncompromised, are brought to bear 
upon the entrenchments of sin and hell. The 
time will come when they will stand in that 
high munition of rocks. Hark ! from that 
holy, blazing height, I hear the shout of re- 
deemed millions : f " We are the Lord's, for 
he hath bought us with his blood. We are 
the Lord's, and we cannot be idle. We are 
the Lord's, and here are our sons, and our 
daughters, and our treasures. We are the 
Lord's, and here are we, soul, spirit and body, 



UNTO THE LORD. 39 

to live for him, suffer for him, die for him ; 
we are the Lord's, now and forever." The 
Lord in his glory has now come to his peo- 
ple. He is in the midst of 'hem ; he is round 
about them ; they have lost their wills, they 
have plunged into the will of Christ, and 
thus put on strength ; and the nations bow to 
Messiah's reign. 

4. The Glory of God constrains us. Man, 
by his revolt, hastened far from God, and in 
the infinite distance entrenched himself in 
his selfishness and enmity, and bid defiance 
to his Maker. Can the broken harmony be 
mended? Can the guilty rebel be dislodged, 
and brought back to his Maker's feet in the 
bonds of loyalty and love ? Is the love of 
God strong enough to bear him forth for the 
deliverance of the culprit over the head of 
his aggravated rebellion ? Can the wisdom 



40 LIVING AND DYING 

of God compass an adequate scheme ? Can 
the power of God meet the vast emergency ? 
Jehovah comes forth to the work with his 
mustered resources. He proclaims to the 
universe, U I can, I will glorify myself, by 
bringing rebellious men holy, happy, submis- 
sive to my feet." Can he redeem the pledge ? 
Can he sustain his plighted honor ? He erects 
in their sight the glorious cross ; and sinners, 
smitten by its power, resign their selfishness, 
and yield themselves up in penitence and 
love, in full and abiding consecration to their 
rightful Sovereign. The Lord is glorified. 
His boast and pledge are visibly redeemed in 
the view of created intelligences. Here is a 
demonstration in the eyes of heaven, earth 
and hell, that the counsels of eternity were 
not in vain ; that the blood of Calvary has 
achieved its destined triumphs ; that the word 
of God has not returned unto him void ; that 



• UNTO THE LORD. 41 

the Holy Spirit is more than a match for the 
selfish, vaunting rebellion of the heart. How 
glorious is Jehovah in all this ! With what 
brightness do his infinite perfections shine 
forth upon the minds of all holy beings from 
his redeemed ones, who, in harmony with 
their sacred profession and vows, lie submis- 
sively at the feet of Jesus, swayed in every 
thought, purpose, affection and power, by 
the glorious doctrine, that they are the pro- 
perty of the Lord. Now, indeed, do they 
appear as " a chosen generation, a royal 
priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, 
showing forth the praises of him who hath 
called them out of darkness into his marvel- 
lous light." Now is fulfilled, i% to the praise 
of the glory of his grace," the great end of 
God's predestinating love. Now begins to 
be fulfilled, in a manner conspicuous and 

divine, the apostolic prayer : " Unto him be 

4# 



42 LIVING AND DYING 

glory in the church by Christ Jesus." And 
" now, unto the principalities and powers in 
heavenly places, is made known by the 
church the manifold wisdom of God." Breth- 
ren, as we would glorify God, we must feel, 
we must show forth to all around, that, living 
and dying, we are indeed the Lord's. 

5. The blessed rewards of eternity constrain 
us. It is not a vain thing to live and die unto 
Christ. Its recompense, through grace, will 
run parallel, in unspeakable honor and bliss, 
with our deathless being. To all, who obe- 
diently and faithfully declare on earth that 
they are the Lord's, will Christ proclaim in 
the judgment, before an assembled universe, 
" ye are my jewels — well done, good and 
faithful servants." They are welcomed into 
the joy of their Lord. All tears are wiped 
from their eyes. They are conducted by the 



UNTO THE LORD. 43 

Lamb, whom they meekly honored below, to 
the tree of life — to the fountain of life which 
gushes from beneath the throne. He gives 
himself unto them in all the glory of his 
kingdom. He stamps his name upon their 
foreheads, he puts crowns upon their heads, 
he seats them near himself on his exalted 
throne, and they shall reign with him forever 
and ever. 

The subject, which we have imperfectly 
unfolded, received a pleasing illustration in 
the life, character and death of our departed 
brother. He professed to be the property of 
Jesus Christ ; he gave decisive evidence, in 
his life and death, that he was indeed the 
Lord's. The love of Christ constrained him. 
He found his highest joy in living for Christ. 
It was the full and consistent acknowledg- 
ment, which he rendered to the doctrine that 
we are the Lord's, that gave such peculiar 



44 LIVING AND DYING 

beauty and strength to his character and 
toils ; it was this which enabled him, beyond 
most men in his day and generation, to live 
to the glory of God. Like Moses, he had an 
humble respect to the recompense of the re- 
ward ; and who can doubt that he is now 
enjoying that recompense in the paradise of 
God? 



Elder Billington McCarter Sanders, was 
the eldest child of Ephraim and Nancy San- 
ders, who were natives of Virginia, and 
shortly after their marriage removed to Geor- 
gia, and settled in Columbia County. He 
was born in Columbia County, December 2d, 
1789. But little can now be ascertained 
respecting the days of- his childhood and 
early youth. It appears, however, that his 



UNTO THE LORD. 45 



father died in 1^796, and his mother in 1798 ; 
so that he was left an orphan at a tender and 
helpless age. The Lord, however, graciously 
provided for the lad ; he found a home in the 
family of a Mr. Ambrose Jones, where it is 
believed he was treated with much kind- 
ness. It further appears, that, in 1802, he 
was a pupil in the Kiokee Seminary, some- 
times known as McNeil's Seminary, then 
under the care of a Mr. Bush, afterwards 
better known as Dr. Bush. At this Institu- 
tion he probably commenced and completed 
his preparation for College. Besides Mr. 
Bush, a Mr. Daniel Baldwin, a teacher of 
some repute in his day, is known to have 
had some share in the youthful training of 
Mr. Sanders. The following interesting re- 
miniscence was kindly furnished me by a 
divStinguished citizen of this State, (Major 
Joel Crawford, of Early Co.,) who, it seems, 



46 LIVING AND DYING 

was a classmate and a very intimate friend 
of young Sanders at the Kiokee Seminary. 
" As a school-boy, Sanders was apt to learn, 
high r tempered, a little proud and quite spir- 
ited ; but always truthful, kind-hearted and 
generous, with strong development of reve- 
rence. I never loved a classmate better ; 
though, being a stouter boy, I sometimes 
fretted him for my own idle amusement, and 
besides the laugh, which I probably enjoyed, 
received from him many of his severest 
blows, which I made it a point never to re- 
turn, having in every case been myself the 
aggressor." 

Having completed his preparatory course 
of study, he entered Franklin College, proba- 
bly in 1806, where he remained, it is supposed, 
about two years ; he then left Athens and 
entered the South-Carolina College, in Co- 
lumbia, April 8th, 1808 ; at which Institution 



UNTO THE LORD. 47 

he graduated December 4th, 1809, and it is 
believed reputably to himself, though com- 
pelled to be absent from his class a portion 
of the time in consequence of feeble health. 
The class with which he was connected in 
Columbia, was somew r hat distinguished, and 
sent out to the country some eminent men.* 
Whilst a student in Columbia, it would seem 
that young Sanders prosecuted his studies 
diligently, manifested much fixedness of pur- 
pose, and gained the respect even of disor- 
derly young men. His room-mate was a 
wild youth, but out of respect to Sanders he 
never brought his rude companions to his 

* Among his classmates were James L. Petigru (now of 
Charleston, S. C.) ; William J. Grayson, subsequently Mem- 
ber of Congress from S. C, and afterwards Collector of the 
Port of Charleston ; and William Capers, now Bishop Ca- 
pers, who, however, did not graduate. 



48 LIVING AND DYING 

room ; and thus the diligent student and the 
irregular youth roomed together in much 
harmony. It was a uniform rule with him 
never to allow any intrusion upon his stu- 
dies ; if a fellow student called, he w r ould 
kindly invite him to a seat, and then turn to 
his books and prosecute his literary task. 
And yet some of his college habits were not 
the most commendable ; he was a great 
slave to the narcotic plant. He chewed, 
smoked and snuffed immoderately ; but, much 
to his credit, (would that all the youth of 
our country might profit by his example in 
this respect,) he bid adieu to all these evil 
practices simultaneously, the very day he 
graduated, and never afterwards resumed 
them. 

After leaving college, Mr. Sanders re- 
turned to his native county, and there re- 



UNTO THE LORD. 49 

sided till the latter part of 1832. In January, 
1810, he was baptized by that beloved patri- 
arch in Zion, Abraham Marshall, and be- 
came a member of the Kiokee Church. He 
was two years Rector of the Columbia County 
Academy, probably the years 1811 and '12. 
March 17th, 1812, he was united in marriage 
with Miss Martha Lamar, of Applington, by 
whom he had nine children, all of whom, 
except two, died in infancy and childhood ; 
and of the two that lived to maturity, but 
one (a daughter) now survives. His first 
companion having been removed by death in 
1822, he was married to Miss Cynthia Holli- 
day, (the pious and estimable lady that 
now survives him,) of Lincoln County, Feb. 
25th, 1824. Thirteen children were the fruit 
of his second marriage ; of these, four died 
when young, one in mature years ; leaving 
eight, beside the daughter just referred to, to 
5 



50 LIVING AND DYING 

deplore the death of one of the most faithful 
and excellent of fathers. 

Immediately after the close of his labors 
as a teacher, at Applington, he settled upon 
a plantation in his native county. He prose- 
cuted his agricultural labors with much dili- 
gence and success, finding them to be conge- 
nial to his taste, and highly favorable to his 
health, which had been seriously threatened 
by a strong predisposition to pulmonary dis- 
ease. During his early manhood, (it must 
have been previous to the year 1819,) he was 
chosen to represent his native county in the 
State Legislature. His uprightness and un- 
flinching integrity gained for him much re- 
spect at Milledgevile ; I have it from good 
authority that he stood at the head of the 
young members of the House. But no per- 
suasions could induce him to become a can 
didate for a second election ; he had done 



UNTO THE LORD. 51 

forever with political life,* And yet he was 
not unwilling to serve the public in more 

* The distinguished friend of Mr. Sanders, who had re- 
ceived from him so many of those youthful blows at the Kio- 
kee Seminary, thus refers to his short political career: " Very 
soon after Mr. Sanders attained manhood, the people of Co- 
lumbia County, among whom he was brought up, urged him 
to represent them in the General Assembly, I was not in the 
State at that time, but the first time we met after he had been 
a member, he frankly expressed his determination never to 
engage again in political life. I was the more surprised, as I 
knew him to be talented and popular, and, I supposed, ambi- 
tious. He never lacked energy or habitual industry ; and, I 
presume, he became disgusted with the obliquities and follies 
of the State House — a feeling of which I, in the same situa- 
tion afterwards, strongly partook." Mr. Crawford is entirely 
correct as to the cause which drove him from political life, 
as Mr. Sanders had often expressed himself to that effect to 
his friends. Whilst at Milledgeville as a Representative, he 
said to Gov. Rabun, and another friend now living: " This is 
no place for a Christian, and I shall never come here again." 
The Governor rather remonstrated with him, remarking that 



52 LIVING AND DYING 

quiet spheres ; he was several years one of 
the Judges of the Inferior Court, and in this 
capacity served his county creditably to him- 
self, and usefully to the community. 

But more sacred and responsible duties at 
length press upon his heart and hands. It 
was, perhaps, in 1823, or early in 1824, that 
Brother Jabez P. Marshall, then pastor of 
the Union Church, Warren County, the church 
where Mr. Sanders at this time held his mem- 
bership, begged permission, at one of the 
regular conferences, to submit to the brethren 
a resolution which he had drawn up. Brother 
Sanders was acting Clerk : with others, 
he encouraged the pastor to read the reso- 
lution, being entirely ignorant of its contents. 

men of Christian integrity were needed in our legislative 
councils. He soon, however, gave his friends present to un- 
derstand that his mind was fixed, and that, as to himself, the 
line of duty lay in some other direction. 



UNTO THE LORD. 53 



It was read and passed : Brother Sanders 
dropped his head and burst into tears. It was 
a resolution urging him forward to the work 
of the ministry. He was not disobedient to 
what he considered the call of heaven, and 
we soon find him lifting up his voice in pro- 
claiming the glorious gospel to his fellow 
men. At the special request of the Williams' 
Creek Church, he was ordained at the Union 
Church, January 5th, 1S25. Brethren Jesse 
Mercer, Malichi Reeves, Joseph Roberts, 
John H. Walker, Jabez P. Marshall and Eli- 
sha Perryman, were the ministers who offi- 
ciated on the occasion. Of this precious group 
of gospel laborers, with the beloved brother 
that was ordained, all have passed away but 
one, the venerable Perryman,* who appears 

* Brother Elisha Perryman is now about 86 years of age, has 
been engaged in the ministry 50 years, and is, probably, the 
oldest Baptist Minister in the State. 
5* 



54 LIVING AND DYING 

amongst us at this anniversary of our Conven- 
tion. Brother Sanders was now fully estab- 
lished in the work of the ministry ; a work in 
which he greatly delighted, and which he 
prosecuted with diligence and success as Jong 
as health and strength remained. From the 
time of his ordination until his settlement in 
Greene County, at the place now known as 
Penfield, he preached regularly at Williams' 
Creek, and most of the time at Pine Grove ; 
from the beginning of 1826 till his removal, 
he was pastor of the Union Church, to which 
he belonged, and most of the same period 
he also preached at Powelton. His labors 
upon this interesting field were highly ap- 
preciated, and he was instrumental, there is 
reason to believe, in turning many to right- 
eousness. During this period he was also 
instrumental in helping forward to the min- 
istry some of our most useful and prominent 



UNTO THE LORD. 55 



laborers. Whilst laboring abroad upon his 
somewhat extended field, he was not ufrmind- 
ful of the religious welfare of his own family 
and the immediate neighborhood around. 
Having provided for himself a new and com- 
fortable house, with pious and considerate 
care he fitted up a comfortable room on 
his premises, as a place of worship for the 
special accommodation of his family, in- 
cluding his servants, and for the convenience 
also of meetings occasionally appointed for 
his neighbors. 

But he must not long remain in his com- 
fortable mansion, and amongst the people to 
whose spiritual welfare he was so much de- 
voted ; providence summons him to a new 
home, and to more arduous labors. This 
Convention having determined, at their an- 
nual meeting in 1831, to establish a Classical 
and Theological Seminary, as soon as the 



56 LIVING AND DYING 

necessary preliminaries could be adjusted, 
Brother Sanders was called upon to take 
charge of the infant enterprise. As the In- 
stitution contemplated, as one of its promi- 
nent objects, the improvement of the rising 
ministry — a matter dear to the heart of Bro- 
ther Sanders — and as he entertained no de- 
sign to cease proclaiming the gospel message 
as he might have opportunity, he supposed 
that he might engage in the work proposed, 
at least for a time, without doing violence to 
his ministerial engagements. He consequent- 
ly yielded to the wishes of his brethren, and 
yet under circumstances which were well 
calculated to test his faith, and afford con- 
vincing evidence of his benevolent, self-sa- 
crificing spirit. To do full justice to his 
sacrifices and motives in undertaking, and 
prosecuting so long, the work proposed, we 
must go back to his quiet residence in Co* 



UNTO THE LORD. 



lumbia County. As already intimated, he 
had provided for himself a comfortable man- 
sion ; a thriving plantation is spread around 
him ; and. what is more, he is occupying, hap- 
pily and usefully, as we have just seen, 
a wide field of ministerial labor — sufficiently 
w T ide to task well his powers, and gratify 
the promptings of an ordinary benevolence. 
Then consider, in the next place, that the 
enterprise upon which he is called to embark, 
in some of its features, is an unsettled experi- 
ment ; its sanguine friends are not very nu- 
merous ; its pecuniary prospects not the most 
hopeful ; and the anticipated accommodations 
for his wife and children, for teachers and 
pupils, of the rudest character. Will he give 
up the comforts of Columbia, and pitch his 
rude tent in the forests of Greene ? Will he 
harness himself, even for a season, to an en- 
terprise of so much apparent risk, of so much 



58 LIVING AND DYING 

certain toil? Christ speaks through the voice 
of his brethren, and he has learned to bow 
submissively to the call of duty. December 
of 1832, finds him at his post. The first of 
January following, finds ready for him and 
his charge, " two double cabins, with a gar- 
ret to each, for dwelling, for dining and for 
study, for both teachers and students."* 
There, in those two log cabins, in the oaken 
woods, with some imperfectly cultivated 
acres near, with one teacher by his side, and 
thirty-nine pupils (seven having in view the 
ministry) around him, in toiling faith, in la- 
boring love, in patient hope, did our beloved 
brother lay the foundations of the Mercer 
Institute, in a few years to be known as the 
Mercer University. The following extract 

t Sanders' Valedictory Address, delivered on giving up the 
Presidency of Mercer University, December 12, 1839. 



UNTO THE LORD. 59 



from Brother Sanders' Valedictory Address, 
whilst mainly intended to remind us of some 
of the encouragements which attended his 
first year's labor in the Institution, more than 
hints at many of the difficulties with which 
he was compelled to struggle : — " I shall ever 
remember, with lively emotions of pleasure, 
the patience and cheerfulness with which the 
students of this year sustained the privations 
and trials to which they were subjected by 
their cramped circumstances. They may be 
truly said to have borne hardness like good 
soldiers. Whilst living, as in a camp, in 
their midst, and burdened with the charge 
and the responsibility of the literary, theo- 
logical, laboring and boarding departments, 
I found no little support in all my cares and 
labors, from witnessing, that while they lived 
upon the cheapest fare, had no place for 
study but the common school-room, no place 



60 LIVING AND DYING 

to retire to for rest but a garret without fire, 
in the coldest weather, and labored diligently 
three hours every day, no complaint was 
heard, but that the most entire cheerfulness 
ran through all their words and actions." 

At the expiration of his first year's service 
at Penfield, it being deemed essential to the 
interest of the Seminary that he remain, al- 
though he had already passed through so 
many privations, and still perceived that 
many anxieties and hardships awaited him, 
he consented to prosecute his labors. It would 
require too much time to do ample justice to 
the diversified and arduous toils of Brothel 
Sanders, during the year already referred to, 
and the five years that succeeded. He was 
not merely the general superintendent of the 
Seminary, but he entered laboriously into all 
the various details of the different depart- 
ments. He was teacher, steward and farm- 



UNTO THE LORD. 61 



er. He had accounts to keep, buildings to 
erect, land to clear, financial plans to re- 
volve, discipline to administer, studies to re- 
view, extensive correspondence to keep up ; 
besides the anxious and never-ceasing atten- 
tion which he devoted to the religious wel- 
fare of his pupils, his ministerial labors in 
churches around, and his not unfrequent at- 
tendance on special and important meetings 
of his brethren, connected with the interests 
of the school and the general welfare of the 
Redeemer's kingdom. Add to all this the at- 
tention which was demanded by an increas- 
ing family, and his important private agri- 
cultural interests, and you may form some 
idea of the diversified toils and cares which 
rested on the heart and hands of Brother San- 
ders. For many years he was frequently up, 
in the diligent prosecution of his duties, till 
eleven or twelve o'clock at night ; whilst he 
6 



62 LIVING AND DYING 

was uniformly up and to his toils at an early- 
hour in the morning.* He proved himself to 

* It is difficult, I may say impossible, for those who were not 
intimately acquainted with Brother Sanders in these trying 
times, fully to appreciate the force and excellency of his cha- 
racter. The following extract from a letter which I recently 
received from a highly esteemed brother, who had been well 
acquainted with him for twenty years, and was very intimately 
associated with him during some of these hard- working years, 
will illustrate the strong hold which he had gained upon the 
confidence and affections of his most intimate brethren : " I 
loved Brother Sanders. I have always felt a reverence for 
his character. I shall cherish a lively recollection of our inti- 
macy. I feel deeply his loss. Were we together in social 
conversation, there are many circumstances to which we 
might allude. But when you ask me what I recollect of San- 
ders, I have but one idea — I see but one object. I see no spots 
or dark caverns, no isolated virtues, no bold promontories, no 
rugged mountains ; I see the man — the entire character, com- 
manding my respect, attracting my affections, entitled to my 
confidence, worthy of my imitation ; I see Billington San- 
ders, my friend, my brother ; a noble man, a great man, a 
good man." 



UNTO THE LORD. 63 



be the very man that God had raised up for 
this important enterprise. In those branches 
of instruction to which he gave special atten- 
tion, he was one of the most thorough and 
efficient teachers that was ever connected 
with the Institution. In the administration of 
discipline, although sometimes considered as 
leaning to severity, he nevertheless displayed 
much tact and ability. Indeed, in all his va- 
rious duties, he sustained himself with much 
success. God smiled upon his self-denying 
endeavors. Public favor was conciliated to 
the Seminary, the number of students in- 
creased, pecuniary aid flowed in, and pre- 
cious revivals of religion were enjoyed from 
year to year. 

It was at length determined to elevate the 
Institution to the rank of a College, and Bro- 
ther Sanders was elected as its first Presi- 
dent. It was with much reluctance that he 



64 LIVING AND DYING 

accepted of the appointment, not through 
dread of toil and sacrifice, but through a 
modest distrust of his ability to fulfil its du- 
ties. He yielded only upon two considera- 
tions : one was, that he must be allowed to 
employ an assistant Professor, and support 
him out of his own salary ; the other, that 
the Trustees should use all reasonable efforts 
to secure a successor at their earliest oppor- 
tunity. A successor having been provided, 
he resigned his charge at the close of 1839, 
after having conducted the Institution suc- 
cessfully through the six years of its Aca- 
demic minority, and the first year of its Col- 
legiate career. He turned it over into other 
hands, not indeed a completed structure, but 
with foundations well laid, and its walls go- 
ing up in strong and useful proportions. On 
giving up his charge, he delivered a Valedic- 
tory Address before the trustees, faculty, 



UNTO THE LORD. 65 

students and friends of the University : this 
Address, which was subsequently published, 
contained an interesting account of the ori- 
gin and early history of the Institution, and 
was replete with maxims of sound, practical 
wisdom. Though no longer the President, 
Brother Sanders continued, in other relations, 
his untiring efforts for the prosperity of the 
College. He was about five years its Trea- 
surer, occasionally its traveling agent for the 
collection of funds, a member of its Board of 
Trustees until his death, and also for several 
years, up to the time of his decease, the Se- 
cretary of the Board. He w r ill be long and 
gratefully remembered for his arduous and 
disinterested labors in behalf of the Univer- 
sity ; though hitherto his labors in this re- 
spect have not been sufficiently appreciated 
by his own denomination, nor by the country 
at large. Coming years will do him justice. 
' 6* 



66 LIVING AND DYING 

So far as personal sacrifices and self-denying 
labors were concerned, he might be consi- 
dered more specially its founder than any 
other individual. It is true he was blessed 
with the counsel and co-operation of other 
valuable brethren : — how needful were the 
early efforts of a Sherwood, especially in 
rousing the minds of his brethren to the im- 
portance of education ; how needful the 
strong and clear-sighted financial sagacity of 
a Janes ; how needful the sound wisdom 
and princely munificence of a Mercer, not to 
speak of the valuable services of associate 
teachers, and other zealous helpers ; but how 
specially needful, under God, was the versa- 
tile mind, and the strong, dexterous right 
hand of Billington Sanders. That in all his 
round of arduous and complicated service, he 
should have committed no mistakes, would 
have been indeed miraculous ; that he should 



UNTO THE LORD. 67 

have done so much, and done it so well, is 
truly a matter of admiration and thankful- 
ness. In other hands the work has still gone 
prosperously forward, until the Mercer Uni- 
versity ranks high amongst the most thorough 
and useful Seminaries of our country. 

And who more heartily rejoiced in the 
growing usefulness of the Institution, than 
Brother Sanders ? How was I gratified, in 
one of my very last interviews with the ve- 
nerated man, to notice how r his fading fea- 
tures lighted up with the smile of gratitude 
and joy, as he spoke of the prosperity and 
prospects of the beloved Seminary. And 
well might it be so. It was a child which 
he had watched with a father's love for 
twenty years. And as his thoughts reverted 
to those two log cabins, and the laborious, 
anxious years that succeeded, and as he then 
turned his dying eyes towards the neat and 



68 LIVING AND DYING 

comfortable edifices that had been reared, 
and the smiling campus in front, and the 
lovely village around ; as he thought of the 
noble pecuniary endowment of the Seminary, 
and its still richer endowment in an able, di- 
ligent and pious faculty ; as he thought of the 
many precious souls which had been hope- 
fully converted within its walls, the respect- 
able number of useful ministers, teachers and 
citizens whom it had trained and sent forth ; 
when he thought of the reputation its pupils 
had gained for energy, sound morality and 
thorough scholarship — so much so, that the 
graduates of Mercer were sought after with 
interest in various regions in Georgia, and in 
sister States ; and when he further thought of 
the cheering prospects of the Seminary for 
years, perhaps for generations to come, and 
then of the important instrumentality with 
which he had been honored in aiding to bring 



UNTO THE LORD. 69 

about these pleasing results — well might the 
glow of thankfulness and joy kindle upon the 
features of the dying Sanders. Well might 
he say, with the aged Simeon, as perhaps he 
did, <; now lettest thou thy servant depart in 
peace." As long as the Mercer University 
stands, so long will Brother Sanders be 
gratefully remembered for his self-denying 
and benevolent labors ; and as long as it 
stands, may it be guided by those sound and 
wholesome maxims which controled its youth- 
ful destinies.* But we must hasten on. 

* The following extracts from Brother Sanders' Valedictory 
Address, clearly unfold some of the fundamental principles 
which governed him and his coadjutors in the management 
of the interests of the Institution : 

" Permit me here to recount some of the principles upon 
which your Institution was first organized, and on which it 
has since been conducted by its founders ; principles which 
have no doubt contributed eminently to its past success, and 



70 LIVING AND DYING 

During his residence at Penfield, our be- 
loved brother, ever mindful of the charge of 
his divine Master, "- go thou and preach the 
gospel," labored much in the ministry. He 
was jfowr years pastor of the Shiloh church ; 

in favor of which evident indications of divine approbation 
have been manifested. 

" In the first place, it was a principle with them to delibe- 
rate maturely on every subject of investigation/ and to exam- 
ine well the ground about to be occupied, before they took their 
position. So far from being hasty in their conclusions, or 
rash and precipitate in their acts, they took care to satisfy 
themselves fully with regard to the merits of every subject 
that presented its claims to their attention, before they put forth 
their labors in its behalf. * * * * 

" 2d. Your Institution has been built upon the faith of that 
divine principle of truth, ' that except the Lord build the 
house, they labor in vain that build it.' Its founders have not 
stopped at making sure of a good object, and then laboring 
diligently for its accomplishment. In all their efforts they 
have acknowledged God, and sought his blessing in earnest 
prayer. How often and how fervently have they, in the Ian- 



UNTO THE LORD. 71 

he labored ten years with the church at 
Greensboro ; and was pastor of the church 
at Penfield, from October, 1842, till Novem- 
ber, 1849. He also labored regularly for 
some time with the Antioch and Sugar Creek 

gnage of the pious Psalmist, prayed, ' establish thou the work 
of our hands upon us ; yea, the work of our hands, establish 
thou it.' ***** 

" 3d. Another principle early laid down, and firmly adhered 
to, by the founders of your Institution, was ' to keep out of 
debt/ The Convention of 1832 passed a resolution, that no 
debt shall be contracted by the Committee or Trustees, on the 
credit of the Institution, without funds in hand to pay ; other- 
wise, in such case, it should be on their own individual re- 
sponsibility. The wisdom of this policy cannot be too highly 
appreciated. 

"4th. Another important principle with the founders of 
your Institution was, ' to go more for substance than for show, 
and more for sense than for sound.' In digesting systems, in 
erecting buildings, in arranging studies, in selecting teachers, 
in a word, in every operation of the Institution, this principle 
has had its influence. * * * * It is on this principle 



72 LIVING AND DYING 

churches ; and one year supplied the church 
at Griffin two Sabbaths in each month, dis- 
tant by railroad, the route he always took, 
about one hundred and thirty miles. In the 
bounds of these churches, his labors were ac- 
ceptable and useful ; on some occasions sea- 
sons of special refreshing were enjoyed, " and 
much people was added to the Lord." 

He sustained an eminently important rela- 
tion to the large advisory councils of his bre- 

that the instructions of the teachers have been addressed to 
the understanding of the pupils, and not merely to the memo- 
ry, and that public examinations have been required to be tho- 
rough and ufrdeceptive ; and on this principle it is, that more 
attention has been paid to the solid branches of mental and 
moral improvement, than to any of the forms of fashionable 
etiquette. 

" The result has proved that honesty is the best policy ; that 
however the world may labor to deceive, it is not willing to be 
deceived, and that its imitators in hollow show are not the ob- 
jects of its confidence and respect." 



UNTO THE LORD. 73 



thren. For more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury, he was a burning and a shining light in 
the Georgia Association. He was several 
years the Clerk of that body, and at nine of 
its annual sessions he presided as its Modera- 
tor. And is it necessary for me to remind 
you, brethren of the Convention, of the en^ 
dearing and highly useful relation which he 
sustained to this body ? How ready, how 
skilful, and often how powerful, was he in 
your discussions : how wise and efficient in 
aiding to give general shape and proportion 
to your measures, and to arrange their va- 
rious details. On special committees, how 
diligent and laborious : on commissions to 
other important bodies, how faithful and how 
helpful. Do I exaggerate at all when I say 
that, for many years, he was more fully iden- 
tified with all the important measures of this 
body, at least as to their practical execution, 
7 



74 LIVING AND DYING 

than any other individual in Georgia? For 
six years he was the President of this Con- 
vention. His indefatigable labors on that 
very important and responsible Board, the 
Executive Committee, run back beyond my 
particular knowledge : seldom did he miss its 
meetings ; for many years he prepared its 
lengthy reports, and from the death of Mer- 
cer till his own death, he was uniformly its 
Chairman. 

His assistance in laying out, organizing 
and adorning the town of Penfield, must not 
be omitted in the list of his useful services ; 
nor the labors of the year during which he 
so acceptably edited the Christian Index, 
though with much risk to his health ; nor his 
useful visits as one of your Delegates to the 
General Triennial Convention, before the 
separation of the Northern and Southern 
Baptists ; nor his subsequent visits as your 



UNTO THE LORD. 75 

Delegate to the Southern Baptist Convention, 
an organization in which he took much in- 
terest ; nor his occasional visits to distant 
churches on important service, his frequent 
attendance on the sessions of the various as- 
sociations in the State, at union, missionary 
and protracted meetings, and on funeral oc- 
casions, during which excursions he traveled 
thousands of miles, endured many privations, 
and lifted up his voice for the instruction of 
a great multitude of immortal souls. Nor 
must we fail to place upon the record of his 
useful services, the important aid which he 
rendered to many of our excellent ministe- 
rial laborers. Some of them he was the 
means of first directing to the Lamb of God. 
Some of them were helped on to their first 
trembling efforts in the ministry by his en- 
couraging voice. Many of them he greatly 
aided by the instruction he imparted in use- 



76 LIVING AND DYING 

ful literary branches, and in the doctrines of 
the Bible. Many young ministers, struggling 
with narrow means, and with a sense of un- 
fitness for their responsible work, shared 
largely in his encouraging sympathy and 
friendship, and as they went forth, some to 
the sea-board, some to the mountains, and 
some to Alabama, Texas, and other regions 
of the country, they carried with them, and 
those that yet live still retain, a profitable, 
animating remembrance of his paternal 
counsels, and of his bright example of Chris- 
tian faithfulness and self-denying labor. 
Time would fail me to speak of his valuable 
services in support of the cause of Tempe- 
rance, of which he was an early and effi- 
cient supporter ; of the cause of Foreign and 
Domestic Missions, Sabbath Schools, Bible 
and Tract distribution, with all kindred plans 
of Christian beneficence. Time would fail to 



UNTO THE LORD. 77 

do justice to his numerous and liberal pecu- 
niary contributions, which flowed forth stea- 
dy and bright as the bounty of the laboring 
sun ; steady and unambitious as the fertili- 
zing flow of the perennial stream in its moun- 
tain valley. Whilst on this latter topic, how- 
ever, I would do wrong to omit the interest- 
ing fact, that, by his last will and testament, 
he levied a wise, benevolent tribute on the 
estate which he left to his children. He di- 
rected that one-tenth of the income on the 
property left to his minor children, should be 
given to benevolent purposes ; they, in con- 
sultation with their mother, to determine the 
particular objects to be aided. Thus, whilst 
he provided for a liberal contribution to the 
cause of Christ from his estate as long as he 
could control it, with his accustomed sagacity, 
he so arranged it that his children should en- 
7* 



78 LIVING AND DYING 



joy the advantage of an important moral dis- 
cipline in its regular yearly disposition. 

We have now glanced at some of the prin- 
cipal incidents in the life of our departed 
friend. We proceed to give a more distinct 
analysis of some of the prominent traits in 
his character. 

From the imperfect outline which we have 
presented of the principal incidents in the 
life of our departed friend, one would natu- 
rally infer that Billington M. Sanders was 
no ordinary man. Without conceding to him 
the attributes of genius, or extensive and 
profound scholarship, or the exactest refine- 
ment of manners, or a high reputation for 
remarkable sayings, and striking isolated 
deeds, or even that nicely shaded perfection 
of Christian character which, in some rare 
instances, has adorned the history of Zion, he 



UNTO THE LORD. 79 

must nevertheless be regarded as one of the 
most remarkable men that has ever lived and 
died in Georgia. His life exhibited a uni- 
form and unbroken round of sacred devotion 
to principle, of self-sacrificing, useful deeds, 
of sincere, fervent and unquestioned piety. 
Those, who knew him longest and best, ge- 
nerally valued him most. Some shine in the 
distance, but grow dim as you approach 
them. This was not the case with our be- 
loved Sanders. A transient acquaintance 
would signally fail to reveal his true worth : 
contact with him, in some one or two. rela- 
tions in life, would not guide you to a just 
conception of his merit. An occasional in- 
terview might produce disappointment — pos- 
sibly might leave some prejudice on the mind 
of the suspicious and the uncharitable. To 
have known him fully, it was necessary to 
have gained an intimate acquaintance with 



80 LIVING AND DYING 

him for a long series of years ; to have 
viewed him carefully in public and in pri- 
vate ; to have associated with him in prayer- 
meetings, in the ordinary ministrations of the 
sanctuary, in protracted meetings, in revi- 
vals of religion, and in his social intercourse 
with families as their religious guide and 
teacher ; it w T as needful to have followed 
him carefully through the complex and ardu- 
ous toils of Jaying the foundation, and nour- 
ishing, in its youthful days, an important se- 
minary of learning; thence to have followed 
him to the important convocations of his bre- 
thren, and witnessed there his multifarious 
and unwearied labors ; you must have served 
with him often and long on boards and com- 
mittees for the adjustment of delicate ques- 
tions, and the shaping of important interests ; 
you must then have gained some acquaint- 
ance with his numerous public and private 



UNTO THE LORD. 81 



benefactions ; and you must have gone with 
him to his quiet domestic retreat, and traced 
his footsteps there ; and then you must have 
followed him somewhat into the details of 
husbandry and finance, of buying and selling, 
of rearing edifices, of managing the estates 
of widows and orphans, careful in all this 
round to note the motives and principles 
which governed him ; and then you must 
have taken still another step, and entered, as 
it were, into the recesses of his bosom, and 
gained that acquaintance with the secret 
workings of his heart, which intimate and 
confidential friendship only could have 
reached, and then you would have known 
Brother Sanders ; you would have known his 
infirmities, and you would have known his 
endowments and virtues; and you would 
have decided that the latter, over the head of 
all the abatements which were justly due to 



82 LIVING AND DYING 

the former, would have given him an honor- 
able position amongst the truly wise, the 
good, the useful, the memorable of his day 
and generation. A few now living were fa- 
vored with such an acquaintance with the 
man, and such is the verdict which they re- 
cord, in justice to the memory of our departed 
brother, and in due thankfulness to the Father 
of lights, from whom proceedeth every good 
and perfect gift. 

Brother Sanders possessed an intellect of ex- 
cellent structure, clear, discriminating and ac- 
tive ; capable, when duly tasked, of grappling 
well with almost any subject that might en- 
gage his attention. His thronged and active 
life did not, however, afford an opportunity 
for that full development, either in matters of 
literature, or theological research, of which 
it was evidently susceptible ; and it must be 
admitted, after all, that, though he was capa- 



UNTO THE LORD. 83 



ble of successful and extensive research, his 
mental, as well as his physical constitution, 
was better adapted to the field of action, than 
to the severe and retired labors of the study. 
Still his general attainments were highly re- 
spectable ; and as to that knowledge of men 
and things, in the practical relations of life, 
which is the result of observation and expe- 
rience, he was quite in advance of the great 
majority of men. 

He had a large share of good common sense ; 
his judgment was uncommonly good in re- 
gard to a great variety of subjects. His well 
considered opinions had great weight with 
his brethren, and with most other persons 
who had a proper knowledge of the man. 
The venerable Mercer placed a very high 
estimate upon his judgment, and this was no 
small praise, for he knew him well, and was 



84 LIVING AND DYING 

himself a wise, discriminating judge of solid 
excellence. 

His capacity for business was indeed re- 
markable ;* for business, whether considered 
in respect to variety, general arrangement, 
or minute detail ; whether pertaining to af- 
fairs purely private and secular, or to public 
enterprises, and the interests of the Redeem- 
er's kingdom. In this respect, he may have 
had his equals, possibly his superiors ; but I 
think the oldest and most experienced now 
present, who had an opportunity of knowing 
the range of his business capacity, are pre- 

* Said a good brother to me, many years ago, before I was 
much acquainted with Mr. Sanders, " Brother Sanders is a 
very remarkable man. He is good at every thing. He is a 
good preacher, a good pastor, a good teacher, a good farmer, 
a good house-carpenter, a good brick-mason — good at what- 
ever he undertakes/' 



UNTO THE LORD. 85 



pared to say that they have rarely come in 
contact with such men. It was indeed ad- 
mirable to witness with what apparent ease 3 
w T ith what exactness and success, he could 
attend to the wants of a numerous family, 
superintend his domestic improvements, di- 
rect the details of a somewhat extensive ag- 
ricultural interest, in connection with other 
private affairs, whilst he was overwhelmed 
with public labors, which, by themselves, no 
ordinary man could long have sustained. 
This talent for business was a rare gift of 
God, and the extent to which it w r as used for 
the good of Zion, and the general happiness 
of his fellow creatures, was one of the bright- 
est features in the life of brother Sanders. 

He was a man of great punctuality in all 
his private and public duties. Herein we find 
one peculiar secret of his success in his va- 
rious undertakings. Billington Sanders was 
8 



86 LIVING AND DYING 

not one of your uncertain, dragging mortals. 
Whatever was the work in hand, he was uni- 
formly at the proper place, and in proper 
time. His pecuniary engagements, the family 
altar, the prayer-meeting, the committee- 
meeting, the associational and conventional 
anniversary, all bore testimony to his habitu- 
al punctuality. It was no doubt constitution- 
ally easier for him than for most men to be 
prompt and regular ; but it was conscience, 
it was Christian principle mainly, which 
wrought this into a stern law of his life. 
From the time he first appeared in this Con- 
vention, till disabled by disease, he missed 
but two of its annual meetings, and that from 
unavoidable circumstances. In his business 
affairs, it was his uniform rule to finish com- 
pletely the appropriate work of each day, 
before he retired to rest. 

He was a man of great decision and ofindom- 



UNTO THE LORD. 87 



itable energy. If in anything he was parti- 
cularly great, it was perhaps in this. He 
always seemed to have something to do, 
much to do ; " and whatever his hand found 
to do, he did it with all his might." He 
moved on through his round of various du- 
ties with a directness, a fixedness of heart 
and mind, a measure of executive momen- 
tum, which were the admiration of all that 
knew him. He was truly, to use the expres- 
sive and unique phrase once applied to him 
by an eminent brother* in a sister State, 
" the wheel-horse of the Baptists of Georgia." 
Ah, brethren, that was indeed an honorable 
position. Better, O how much better, to be 
tugging along through mud, and rain, and 
sand, at the wheels of holy, useful enter- 
prises, at the bidding of Christ and his people, 

* President Manly, of the Alabama University. 



88 LIVING AND DYING 

than at the wheels of mammon or vain glory, 
at the bidding of a proud, selfish, carnal 
heart. 

Brother Sanders was distinguished for great 
moral courage. Decided in his opinions, he 
was not afraid to vindicate them in the face 
of all opposition. He was not often found 
wanting in respect for the judgment of his 
brethren, and he could listen patiently to 
their arguments ; but if compelled conscien- 
tiously to dissent, even from his most revered 
fathers in Christ,* he was not to be deterred 

* As an illustration of his firmness and independence of 
character, I might refer to a memorable conflict of opinion, 
which once occurred between him and the venerable Mercer ; 
an individual whom., probably, he more sincerely revered and 
loved than any other man. It is well known to many, how 
ardently devoted Mr. Mercer was to the project of establish 
ing a Baptist College at Washington, Wilkes Co. It was 
with him a peculiarly darling enterprise. Brother Sanders 
at first favored it, and subscribed liberally + o its support. But 



UNTO THE LORD. 89 



from defining and defending his positions 
through fear of giving offence, or by the au- 
thority of great names. One particular 
phase of his moral courage cannot be too much 
commended. Beyond most men he dared to 
do right, and, as a consequence, beyond most 

before operations were fully commenced, a serious change be- 
gan to take place in the pecuniary affairs of the country, and 
he became f<j]ly satisfied that it would be extremely hazardous 
to attempt a College at Washington, and at the same time 
properly sustain the Mercer Institute as an academic institu- 
tion, which he conceived the denomination were bound to do. 
He, therefore, under existing circumstances, advocated the 
abandonment of the Washington plan, and concentrated the 
energies of the Baptists on the Mercer Institute, where a good 
foundation had already been laid. This greatly disturbed his 
venerable friend. Mercer zealously advocated the original 
plan, and was deeply distressed at the opposition which it en- 
countered. But Sawders was unmoved in his course, for he 
believed it to be right, though it brought him into such serious 
collision with his best friend. His policy at last prevailed, 
mainly, no doubt, through his own influence. Lie was, of 
8* 



90 LIVING AND DYING 

men he dared to confess, when he found him- 
self to be wrong. There may be persons 
now present, who can call to remembrance 
some occasion, when he manifested as much 
moral courage in acknowledging his faults, 
as he ever did in the vindication of his con- 
scientious opinions. 

He was a man of pure and lofty aims.* 
He had no selfish and sinister purposes to 

course, gratified, but did not foolishly exult. And now behold 
the nobleness of the good Mercer. Finding his darling 
scheme overruled by his brethren, he yielded quietly and meek- 
ly. " I cannot," said he, " work alone ; I must go with my 
brethren : you may put me down for $5,000." And, finally, 
as is well known, he gave to the institution at Penfield the 
greater portion of his estate. Noble men ! Noble in their 
agreements ; noble in their differences ; noble in their firm 
and sacred devotion to principle, and in their subjection to 
Christ and their brethren ! 

* " Very few men" (says his friend, Mr. Joel Crawford) 
"have brought to the service of his day and generation, better 



UNTO THE LORD. 91 



hide beneath the cloak of fair pretensions. 
He was not a man of a double face and of a 
double tongue. Uprightness and integrity 
walked with him arm in arm. He was em- 
phatically an honest man — honest in his deal- 
ings, honest in his opinions, honest in his 
rebukes and commendations. True, he had 
his faults; the faultless live in heaven. If I 
were to speak of him in the language of un- 
qualified panegyric, the character of that 
faithful man, rising up in memory, would 
sternly rebuke me. His, however, were not 
the faults of a sordid groveling nature. They 
were such as we often see connected with 
ardent feelings, and great energy and decis- 
ion of character, and are by no means in- 

intents and purposes than Mr. Sanders ; very few more effi- 
ciency, and, I may venture to add, but few have had better 
success." 1 have italicised a few words in this extract, as 
they have special reference to the topic under consideration. 



92 LIVING AND DYJNG 

consistent with that purity of aim of which 
we now speak. Like other men, he some- 
times erred in judgment. He was sometimes 
irritable and impatient ; he sometimes used 
expressions of needless severity ; and some- 
times he urged his opinions with a zeal bor- 
dering on pertinacity. But who would un- 
dertake to impeach his integrity ? Persons 
might dissent from his opinions, and even in- 
dulge in the language of complaint ; but 
still they would be compelled to acknowledge 
that Billington Sanders was a good and up- 
right man. Whatever his faults may have 
been, how light they all appear when weighed 
in the balance with his integrity, in the ba- 
lance with those numberless, useful labors, 
in which, with pure and upright purpose, he 
served his day and generation. 

He was a man of a remarkably disinter- 
ested, self-sacrificing spirit, of warm hearted, 



UNTO THE LORD. 93 



universal benevolence. But why should I make 
this statement, since it is but a repetition of 
the entire substance, so to speak, of the fore- 
going narrative. He seemed habitually to 
feel that he was not his own. Emphatically 
might it be said of him, that he lived not 
unto himself. He courted not his ease ; he 
recoiled from no sacrifice and toil, which 
sacred duty imposed. With a remarkable 
self-forgetfulness he knew how, for the honor 
of Christ, to take up burdens, and how to lay 
them down. He had a high sense of charac- 
ter ; he greatly valued the confidence and 
good opinidtis of his brethren ; yet he never 
went about hunting up compliments or pre- 
ferments ; but when honorable preferments 
were tendered and urged, he dared not to 
decline, if by accepting he could do good; 
and yet, when he might turn his honors over 



94 LIVING AND DYING 

to other hands, with what an amiable grace 
and cheerful spirit could he do it. Any ser- 
vice was to him honorable, however humble, 
that was useful. What truly benevolent en- 
terprise did not call into action the warmest 
emotions of his heart, and gain from him a 
ready and energetic support ? The sick, the 
widow, the fatherless, engaged his anxious 
sympathies. I have already spoken of his 
pecuniary benefactions : and yet why need 
I be so minute as to speak of these, since, 
during his whole Christian life, especially 
during the last twenty y^ars, he seemed to 
make, as it were, but one contribution to the 
cause of human happiness, and that was 
himself — his time and his money, his intel- 
lect and his heart, his soul and his body. 
Upon the history of but few men, who have 
lived and died during the last half century, 



UNTO THE LORD. 95 

have there been more deeply traced the lines 
of disinterested and self-sacrificing labor — 
of whole-hearted Christian benevolence. 

We will now pass on, and briefly con- 
sider his character as unfolded in some of the 
important relations of life. 

Need I speak of him as a citizen ? In this 
relation he displayed a broad public spirit, 
truly worthy of all praise. He was ever the 
friend of law and order, and felt a deep in- 
terest in all useful public improvements. He 
was jealous of the reputation of his native 
State, and desired the happiness and honor 
of his whole country. 

In his domestic relations his walk was 
marked with great fidelity, with a kind and 
watchful devotion to the interests of those 
committed to his charge. Though a thorough 
and systematic economy pervaded all his 
domestic arrangements, (in this respect he 



96 LIVING AND DYING 

was an admirable model,) yet how generous 
and prompt in providing for the needful 
wants of all ! He was the advocate of a 
sound family discipline, having more confi- 
dence in the inspired maxims of Solomon, 
even when applied with some measure of 
sternness, than in that blind, mistaken ten- 
derness, which gives up all domestic govern- 
ment to the winds. God was honored in his 
habitation. His concern for the spiritual 
welfare of his family was habitual, some- 
times intense and absorbing. He was punc- 
tual in his family devotions ; on these occa- 
sions children, servants and visitors, were 
expected to attend. If at any time there was 
an evening party of youth at his house, the 
interview was generally closed by family wor- 
ship in the parlor. His house was the abode 
of generous, warm-hearted hospitality. On 
public occasions he was careful to see that 



ONTO THE LORD. 97 

it was well thronged with friends and stran- 
gers ; and it was pleasing to witness with 
what ease, kindness and minute particularity, 
he ministered to the comfort of all his gfiests. 
As a Minister of the Gospel, Brother San- 
ders occupied a highly respectable position* 
The record already given would sufficiently 
show that he was fervent, laborious and use- 
ful. Had his cares been less diversified aud 
onerous, allowing him to concentrate his un- 
divided energies upon his ministerial work, it 
is difficult to conjecture to what eminence, by 
the blessing of God, he might have attained, 
in point of usefulness and efficiency. As it 
was, he will be remembered in future days 
as having stood in the front ranks of Geor- 
gia's pious, devoted and useful ministers. He 
was not habitually a preacher of what might 
be called great sermons ; he indulged but 
sparingly in niceties of theological discus- 
9 



98 LIVING AND DYING 

sion ; yet he attained to definite, strong and 
comprehensive views of the doctrines of the 
Bible, and was competent to unfold them in 
a cl^ir and impressive manner. Some of his 
discourses were truly able, and all of them 
exhibited a vein of sound and wholesome in- 
struction. Christ and the Cross was his great 
theme. Grace, rich, free, sovereign grace, 
was duly exalted in his doctrine ; human na- 
ture was unfolded in its true helplessness 
and dependence, at the same time that hu- 
man accountability w T as urged in the stern, 
uncompromising spirit of the gospel. His 
manner in the pulpit was plain and unaffect- 
ed ; he never aimed at display, never fished 
for the golden opinions, but always for the 
souls, of men. His practical appeals to saints 
and sinners were tender and earnest ; some- 
times they were clothed with remarkable 
pathos and power. 



UNTO THE LORD. 99 

Considering his many engagements, be de- 
voted much attention to pastoral labors 
among the families connected with his differ- 
ent congregations. 6i He was," says one of 
his brethren, who long sat under his ministry, 
" a model pastor." The humblest member of 
his charge was not overlooked,* whilst the 
sons and daughters of affliction particu- 
larly shared in his affectionate ministrations. 
Whilst pastor of the Church at Penfield, he 
devoted much attention to the young men 

* A pleasant incident is related of him whilst pastor of the 
Church at Powelton. It seems that on a certain occasion an 
aged colored woman, who was remarkable for her punctuality 
in attending the conference meetings of the Church, was ab- 
sent from her place. Brother Sanders concluded she must 
Be sick. As soon as practicable his horse and vehicle were 
gotten in readiness, and with another brother' he hastened off 
into the country to visit -.he colored sister. As he expected, 
he found her upon a sickbed, yet full of peace, and able to 
converse wisely about the things of the kingdom. 



100 LIVING AND DYING 

connected with the University, seeking fre- 
quent opportunities to converse with them 
personally on the interests of the soul. In his 
pastoral visits, he was free, social, instruc- 
tive and faithful ; in directing the minds of 
inquiring souls, he was affectionate and 
skilful. He uniformly urged sound discipline 
in the churches, and took no small pains to 
infuse into the hearts of his brethren that 
spirit of Christian benevolence which dwelt 
in his own bosom. He was a consistent and 
thorough Baptist ; yet in his Christian and 
ministerial intercourse with other denomina- 
tions, he was considerate, respectful and 
courteous, manifesting a cordial affection for 
all whom he regarded as the sincere lovers 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

But we must pass on to the closing scene. 
Come, my brethren, let us gather around the 
dying bed of this honored servant of Christ, 



UNTO THE LORD. 101 



and see how he, who thus faithfully lived 
unto the Lord, can die unto the Lord. On 
the 19th of June, 1851, he had an attack 
of vertigo, which was followed by a general 
and permanent prostration of his system. 
He had been feeble previous to this, but it 
was now evident that the brisk, elastic en- 
ergy of his system, which had borne him 
through so many toils, and held in check, for 
many years his constitutional tendency to 
consumption, htid given way. never effec- 
tually to react. His occasional improvement, 
which sometimes excited hope, soon gave 
place to greater decline, and thus by degrees 
he sunk away. At intervals, he was able to 
take the open air in his buggy, until last 
June ; from that time he was confined to his 
house, and mostly to his room. For four 
months before his death he was confined to 
his bed ; for three or four weeks he was 
9* 



102 LIVING AND DYING 

unable to turn himself in his bed, and for 
several days he was unable to move any part 
of his body, except his hands and arms. In 
the meantime he was reduced to a state of 
great emaciation, and it became difficult to 
move him without causing him pain. 

With the exception of some short inter- 
vals, his mind retained, to the last, its usual 
clearness. As one striking evidence of this 
lingering vigor of his faculties, during the 
two or three months previous to his death, he 
arranged and consummated some important 
pecuniary plans. He sold his plantation and 
some other valuable property, hired out seve- 
ral of his servants, and dictated the details 
of a small farm and clearing in the edge of 
the town. 

His spiritual state during his long confine- 
ment was truly interesting. The Lord, it 
seems, had kindly called his servant away 
from those active labors in which he had so 



UNTO THE LORD. 103 



faithfully served his generation, and in which 
he so much delighted, that, by the retired and 
quiet discipline of the sick room, he might 
more thoroughly teach him the lessons of 
child-like patience #nd resignation, and im- 
part the last finishing touch to his Christian 
character. His progressive ripening for the 
skies was apparent to all. He sought dili- 
gently, and not in vain, for spiritual improve- 
ment. He carefully reviewed the blessed 
doctrines which he had so long and so faith- 
fully proclaimed, and found himself reassured 
of their excellency and power. Grace, sove- 
reign grace, was the stay and rejoicing of 
his heart. He could not dwell upon his own 
works as possessing any merit to recommend 
him to the favor of God, and when his breth- 
ren would allude to his past services, he in- 
variably directed their minds to the atone- 
ment of Christ as his only hope. He was 
uniformly composed and cheerful but had no 



104 LIVING AND DYING 

raptures. He seemed satisfied to rest his 
hopes upon the naked promises of God ; his 
feelings might deceive him, bat he felt that 
God's promises could never fail. At a cer- 
tain time his wife read # to him the account 
of the last hours of Andrew Fuller, which, as 
he stated, very much accorded with the ex- 
ercises of his own mind. The ruling passion 
strong in death, is sometimes spoken of; and 
what was this ruling passion in the case of 
Brother Sanders, but the spirit of benevo- 
lence ? He thought, in death, of the wants of 
Zion, and shortly before his departure gave 
particular directions about his annual con- 
tribution to this' Convention. Have your 
financial committee gathered up the money 
sent hither ? Then they have now in their 
hands the last donation of the dying Sanders. 
He earnestly sought for patience in his af- 
fliction; it was the subject of his own prayers, 
and when ministering brethren visited him, 



UNTO THE LORD. 105 



he was particular to request them to present 
their petitions in his behalf, that he might be 
submissive and resigned. The last two or 
three days he seemed anxious, lest he might 
feel an impatient desire to remain, or go 
hence ; he wished to have no will of his own, 
to wait quietly God's own time, although it 
might prolong his sufferings, and delay his 
entrance into eternal rest. To visiting friends 
he expressed great confidence in God, quo- 
ting passages like this — " Though he slay me 
yet will I trust in him." Shortly before he 
expired, fearing that he had been too anxious 
to depart, he said to his friends — " I have 
sinned, pray that it may be pardoned." A 
few moments before he ceased to breathe, he 
repeated, with great satisfaction, the expres- 
sion of the Psalmist — "Though I walk through 
the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear 
no evil, for thou art with me ; thy rod and 
thy staff they comfort me." Shortly after- 



106 LIVING AND DYING 

wards he began to sink, and he passed away 
quietly without a struggle. He entered into 
his rest on the Lord's day, the 12th of March, 
in the 65th year of his age. 

On the following Tuesday his remains 
were conveyed to the College Chapel, where 
an appropriate funeral discourse was preach- 
ed by Professor Hillyer, from Rev. xiv. : 13 : 
"Blessed are the dead," &c. From the chapel, 
his body was borne to the village grave-yard, 
accompanied by a larger funeral procession 
than ever before entered that enclosure of 
the dead. There, in that retired and peace- 
ful grave-yard, near the pleasant village 
which he founded, and of which he was so 
long a distinguished ornament ; near the 
University which had shared so largely in 
his labors and his love ; within a few feet 
of the remains of the venerated Mercer, with 
whom, when living, he had stood in faithful 
service for so many years, shoulder to shoul- 



UNTO THE LORD. 107 

der, heart to heart ; there sleeps the precious 
dust of Billington McCarter Sanders. Fare- 
well, thou friend of my bosom ! Farewell, 
thoufriend of God and man ! 

Brethren of the Convention, and all the 
followers of Christ whom I now address — the 
occasion calls loudly upon us to be up and 
doing. We are passing rapidly away. The 
Fathers, where are they ? The Marshalls are 
gone ; Armstrong is gone, and Mercer is 
gone, and Janes is gone, and Posey is gone, 
and others who might be named, and now 
the beloved Sanders sleeps in death. We, 
all of us, will soon be gone. Let us then be 
up, fully girded for every remaining duty, 
fully ready for our death struggle, and for the 
infinite rewards of grace which Christ has 
promised to all who live and die unto him. 

Impenitent sinners, the occasion appeals to 
you. A watchman has fallen, whose living 
admonitions some of you were permitted to 



108 LIVING AND DYING, ETC* 

hear, and who, from his silent tomb, now 
speaks to you all. Will ye listen, ye children 
of men ? Are you prepared for your final 
exit ? Unto whom are you living, and what 
are your prospects for eternity ? Alas ! you 
are living unto yourselves, unto the world, 
unto sin, unto the great enemy of God and 
man. Up to this moment you have trifled 
with your souls, and you now have nothing 
in prospect but an eternity of despair. Wake 
to penitence and prayer. Seek reconciliation 
to your offended Father, through the blood of 
his crucified Son. Then all will be w r ell ; 
then, through grace, will you be enabled to 
live unto the Lord ; and then, through grace, 
will you die unto Him, 6f who was delivered 
for our offences, and was raised again for our 
justification," and who is " worthy to receive 
power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and glory, and blessing, for ever 
and ever." 



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